Vitalik Buterin: Crisis Highlights the Need for Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin believes that Ethereum can play a role in a future global crisis as the glue that helps bind nations together.

The Ethereum co-founder spoke at the Ethereal Summit 2020 on May 7 to The Defiant’s Cami Russo. Describing the current global crisis as more than just a financial one, Buterin said the levels of political discord and distrust between countries had highlighted the need for a network like Ethereum.

“I definitely think that there’s a role for blockchains — and Ethereum in particular — to play in being this kind of neutral global player role [for] these systems, currencies, and applications to interact. I think anything created and maintained by nation-states can’t play that role.”

We are the world

When pressed by Russo as to whether he thought of Ethereum as a network connecting these nations, with ETH as the currency, Buterin agreed. He cited “concerns around censorship, privacy and institutions” as factors driving people towards cryptocurrency and blockchain.

Describing the current situation as only “one third” financial, the Ethereum co-founder also discussed the current situation compared with the Global Financial Crisis in 2008 and if the event could help fuel a new crypto wave. Buterin said cryptocurrencies like ETH could grow this time around by addressing “non-financial problems” in the world.

“The cryptocurrency space… for the first decade or so, it was really focused on the financial aspects — censorship resistance of money… but here in 2020 we’re definitely seeing a lot of the same themes, but it’s somewhat less financial than before.”